"Flame Current!"

A huge blast of fire engulfed Cloudway and deleted another 700k+ HP from his health bar. He only had less than 10% HP left now!

"Quickly! We need to save Cloudway!"

When I finally took out the fourth miniboss, I locked onto Dios and activated Thunderous Charge from maximum range!

Swhoos.h.!.+

I hit the great magus like a lightning bolt, but I didn't manage to stun him. Dios was protected by an exceptionally powerful Magic s.h.i.+eld, and it hadn't been broken yet.

I raised my sword and slashed him four times in a row using Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break, distorting his s.h.i.+eld and dealing a series of damage numbers—

3982!

7267!

10292!

48277!

It looked like Universe Break was the only skill that could significantly penetrate the mage boss's Defense. Not only that, his Defense and Magic s.h.i.+eld were unusually tough, so much so that even the great Prince Cloudway couldn't possibly defeat him in a one-on-one fight. Still, Prince Cloudway managed to reduce Dios's HP to 48%, so that was some good news at least.

Lin Yixin appeared after me wielding the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left. She swung both weapons at the same time and landed Moon Gaze + Extreme Break + Barrier Break combo!

18299!

31726!

She looked at me and said, "Little Cheat, we can't keep fighting like this! If we don't break his Magic s.h.i.+eld, he'll only regenerate more HP than we can delete!"

I immediately shouted, "Beiming Xue, ready the Bone Eroding Arrow! Use it once we shred his Magic s.h.i.+eld!"

"Mn!"

Lin Yixin and I circled around the boss and attacked his Magic s.h.i.+eld again and again. However, the d.a.m.n thing was ridiculously durable, and we were not even close to breaking it.

……

"Kakaka…"

Dios declared with a savage laugh, "Are you trying to scratch my itch? Do you really think you can kill me with such pathetic attacks, puny adventurers? Come! I shall deliver you all to h.e.l.l with my legendary magic!"

Dios raised his scepter high and chanted a spell. The next thing I knew, Flame Blast hit me and engulfed my whole body. I could almost pretend that I was being reborn as a phoenix if it wasn't for the scorching pain drilling all the way down to the bone. Unlike the Flame Blast I knew, this one barely had any cast time and traveled at the speed of lightning. The girls exclaimed in shock as a huge damage number appeared above my head—

170287!

It wasn't even a critical hit. This boss was a bit too broken, wasn't he?

I raised my arm and used Tenacity of the Dead without hesitation, healing myself for 70k+ HP in one go. At the same time, I drank a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion and received two timely heals from Murong Mingyue, pulling my HP over the 200k mark. It was still a dangerous situation, however.

Next, Dios stomped his foot and summoned a sea of flames right beneath Lin Yixin and my feet. It dealt continuous damage and ate away at our HP rapidly.

"We need to do something, Little Cheat! We're losing HP too rapidly!" Lin Yixin shouted. We both had Great Earth Transformation turned on, but it still wasn't enough to stop our health bars from emptying at an alarming rate.

I hurriedly said, "Use your ice dragon to delay the boss! Its Magic Resist is much better than ours!"

"Yeah!"

One draconic roar later, the Ice Dragon Kris descended from the sky and tore, bit and spat at Dios like the wild animal she was. I also ordered the Phantom Wolf King to attack Dios's flank with Claw of the Storm. The mage boss panicked a little, he probably wasn't expecting a Holy Giant Dragon to aid us.

Crack!

Finally, that d.a.m.n Magic s.h.i.+eld was shattered!

"This is our opportunity!"

I pointed at the boss and used G.o.d Binding Art. Please let it work!

It looked like Lady Luck heard my prayers, because the G.o.d Binding Art actually managed to shackle Dios. Beiming Xue immediately shot the guy's head with a Bone Eroding Arrow and reduced his Defense drastically. Even if Dios summoned another Magic s.h.i.+eld, it would be a lot less durable compared to before.

"Kill!"

I executed a near seamless Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, and Lin Yixin used Triple Slash and Barrier Break at the same time. Our teamwork was perfect, and three consecutive Intercourses dropped the boss's HP all the way down to 43%. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was still a mage, no matter how powerful he was. If it was just a matter of offensive power, ten out of ten times, his health pool wouldn't be able to withstand the combined might of Lin Yixin, Beiming, Lian Xin and I.

"Watch out! The boss's going to use a big spell!" Lin Yixin exclaimed suddenly.

When we broke Dios's Magic s.h.i.+eld for the fourth time, Dios waved his scepter and chanted, "O' great G.o.d of Fire, heed my call and—"

I drilled him right in the chest with Magic Piercing Punch before he could finish, interrupting whatever spell he was going to cast and scattering blots of black, rotten fles.h.!.+

h.e.l.l yeah! I wasn't expecting Magic Piercing Punch to be this effective while Great Earth Transformation was active, and since we grinded our Divine Energy Points to full during the earlier quests, we could now afford to keep it active at all times. No, I should say that this was exactly the kind of battle we grinded our divine energy to max for!

The back and forth continued for a moment, but in the end, our party composition and strength were too much for even the Holy Magus Dios to suppress. There was also the matter of being completely countered by Lin Yixin's pet, the Ice Dragon Kris. Every time his Magic s.h.i.+eld was destroyed, Kris would attack and impede him from the sky. He, on the other hand, couldn't do anything to her because the dragon had 200% Magic Resist, courtesy of its legendary draconic scales.

……

Dios's HP dropped to 10% around 20 minutes later. We were all wary because this was the point where a super boss usually began their do-or-die counterattack, even if it came at a great cost to themselves!

"Roar!"

A fiery rune appeared beneath Dios as his eyes grew as hard as steel. He growled, "No one will stop me from opening the Eye of the Purgatory! When Lord b.l.o.o.d.y Finger awakens, he will wipe all of you ants from the surface of the Heavenblessed Continent! Now come and taste the might of a forbidden spell!"

The next moment, Dios chanted, no, roared out his spell in a trembling voice, "O' slumbering dragons of the Purgatory, descend upon this world in all your eternal glory! Let the world know of your power and rage! Destroy everything in your path! In the name of Dios, I summon thee—h.e.l.lish Dragonrise!"

……

"Roar roar!"

Countless cracks appeared across the earth, and the stairs of the palace shattered into a million pieces. The next moment, countless fire dragons of the Purgatory appeared through the cracks and rushed toward us. The flaming dragons weren't actually real, but the pain they brought to anyone that came into contact with them was real enough!

"Watch out! Don't get one-shot…" Lin Yixin shouted while running left and right to avoid the spell.

I gathered my strength and punched Dios again, growling, "Go back to h.e.l.l, old man!"

Bang!

The red energy struck Dios squarely in the chest, but this time, I failed to interrupt the spell.

"Oh s.h.i.+t…" said Lin Yixin as her face turned as white as paper.

Bang!

A flaming dragon exploded right next to me and seared my arm. The pain was nothing compared to the terrifying damage number that appeared above my head though—

279028!

What the f.u.c.k! My current max HP was less than 300k, and this one spell could almost one-shot me! It definitely deserved to be called a forbidden spell for sure!

The ground was still tearing itself asunder. It looked like we were all going to die.

It was at this moment an idea pa.s.sed through Beiming Xue's mind. She shouted, "Big bro, Sister Lin Yixin, come to me now!"

The next moment, the dark archer changed her attack mode to free-for-all and cast Well of the Abyss, protecting both me and Lin Yixin. For the next 15 seconds, we were immune to all damage at the cost of 50% of our remaining HP. Since I was already at low health, it hardly mattered.

Time pa.s.sed little by little, but the boss showed no signs of stopping his forbidden spell yet. The walls of the palace had long been shattered by the h.e.l.lish Dragonrise spell, and even the inner city walls were starting to be affected as well. It was way too powerful.

Well of the Abyss was going to end any second now, but neither of us had a way to stop the boss. The second the Divine General Skill ended, we would all die to the fiery attack!

Suddenly, Cloudway rose from a pile of rubble at the last moment and shouted with determination, "Teacher, I will not stand you killing any more innocent people than you already did! I will stop you even if I must die to do so!"

Cloudway raised his sword and made his way toward his mentor. The earth continued to crumble, and the dragon-shaped spell left terrifying burns on the back of Cloudway's arms. However, none of it could stop the prince from approaching the magus.

Fear started creeping into Dios's eyes. "What are you doing, child?"

Swhoos.h.!.+

Cloudway raised his sword and growled, "I'm sending you off to h.e.l.l!"

He thrust his sword forward and skewered the old mage's chest. The spell was interrupted at almost the same time Well of the Abyss ended.

3980029!

Cloudway's brave strike deleted almost 10% of Dios's HP immediately. The magus could only gape at his former disciple with barely any HP left in his health bar.

"Experience…"

I muttered to myself before tossing the Cyan Netherworld Sword at the magus. Sword Boomerang, go!

……

Crack...

There was a crisp sound, and five columns of golden light descended from the sky at once, granting everyone a level and healing us to full health. G.o.d d.a.m.n, Dios sure was worth a ton of experience!